Name/Title
Strawberries (Fragaria virginiana)Entry/Object ID
2021.1.20 BScope and Content
Strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) plant description, framed.
The wild strawberry is a perennial herb. It is low, ground-hugging and spreads by trailing runners. In the spring white blossoms appear and the fruit ripens during May and June. strawberries range in size from pea size to thumb size. They grow in open places, wooded slopes and along streams.
Strawberries were often often noted in the journals of the Corps of Discovery. In the first days of their journey, Lewis and Clark wrote in the meteorology remarks of May 25, 1804, "Strawberries in the Praries ripe & abundant." Nearly a year later, on May 23, 1805, the Corps was in today's Montana. Clark wrote, "hard frost last night; ice in the eddy water along the shore, and the water friezed on the oars this morning. Strawburies in bloom. saw the first king fisher." A few days later on June 15, 1805, Sergeant Whitehouse noted while camped in today's Chouteau County, Montana, "at noon we halted at the Mouth of a creek on the Lard. Side which we named Strawberry Creek, their being a great quantity of Strawberry vines about it."
Strawberries tasted good to the explorers. However, if eaten in great quantitates, they could cause a stomach ache. The dried leaves can be made into a tea and both the leaves and fruit are high in vitamin C. The Fragaria virginiana is the parent of 90% of the cultivated strawberries now grown.Context
Originally designed by the St. Joseph Museum in the fall of 2004. Titled "Botanical Wonders of the Uncharted West. The Recorded Flora of the Lewis & Clark Expedition."Collection
Lewis and ClarkLexicon
LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Botanical drawings, Expeditions & surveysArchive Items Details
Title
Strawberries (Fragaria virginiana)Creator
Mary L. FletcherDate(s) of Creation
2004Subjects
Plants, Watercolor paintingsParts
Count
2Parts
Watercolor of plant and descriptive label, both framed.Condition
Overall Condition
Very GoodProvenance
Notes
"Botanical Wonders of the Uncharted West" visually depicts how well Lewis followed Jefferson's instructions. In recognition of this achievement, The S. Joseph Museums, Inc. commissioned accomplished artist Mary Fletcher to create fifty (50) selected paintings of flora documented by the Corps during their Journey. These framed watercolor originals are accompanied by similarly framed labels, generated by former Head of Research Jackie Lewin, which describe the corresponding plants with appropriate quotations from the Journals. This collection makes available for study and appreciation plants that were new to Lewis and Clark, but which Native Peoples already recognized as valuable sources of food, medicine, and tools. Some of these still remain a mystery to many, but all will enjoy their beauty, their diverse uses, and their accomplished renderings.